Adherents.com: Religious Groups in Literature

34,420 citations from literature (mostly science fiction and fantasy) referring to real churches, religious groups, tribes, etc. [This database is for literary research only. It is not intended as a source of information about religion.]

"'For example, what if these shared multiple hallucinations are not hallucinations at all, but rather the first signs of the advent upon our world of the actual numinous force, the divine spirit, the Godhead, if you will?'

'Are you going Hindu on us now?' Waldstein said.

'Crisply Patel replied, 'There is nothing specifically Hindu, I believe, in what I have just suggested. Or eastern in any way, so far as I can see. I think that if we were to consult Father Christie on the subject of the Second Coming we might find that there are Christian elements in the concept, or Jewish messianic ones. I say simply that we are attempting to approach this matter in a scientific way when in fact it may be entirely outside the scope of scientific technique.'

Dante Corelli said, 'Come on, Naresh. Are you telling us just to shrug and give up and wait to see what happens? Now that's a Hindu notion if I ever heard one.' " [Other refs. to Hindu character Patel, not in DB.]

Hinduism

California: Los Angeles

1969

Grimwood, Ken. Replay. New York: Arbor House (1986); pg. 136.

"As in her office, the walls were hung with framed mandalas of many types: Navajo, Mayan, East Indian. "

The bow Gandiva slips frommy hand . . .Omens of evil!What can we hope from this killing of kinsmen?'

'Correct,' Joan said, 'and of course you remember Krishna's answer. It is the most profound statement in all pre-Buddhistic religion of the issue of death and of action.' "

Hinduism

California: Los Angeles

1996

Powers, Tim. Expiration Date. New York: Tor (1996); pg. 201.

Pg. 201: "'...His teachers say that he was okay, considering that his parents were trying to raise him to be some kind of Hindoo holy man...' "; Pg. 210: "'My parents died Monday night,' he found himself saying... 'In our religion it's a purifying ritual. We're Hindus.'

He had no idea whether it had been Edison or himself that had said it, nor if any of it was true. I suppose we might have been Hindus, he thought. In school I always just put down Protestant. "

Pg. 282: "'It was war,' Tom said, looking at her with interest. In the twilight the whites of her eyes looked phosphorescent, she seemed a dangerous young Hindu woman, a Kali. 'They bought people, courts, newspapers...' "; Pg. 229: "'I think you'd better board the Ganesh and get away from these irritating things.' "; Pg. 258: "Eventually Ganesh was ready. Kevin hugged Nadezhda and Tom, and they said things, but in the confusion of shouts he didn't hear... Above him Tom and Nadezhda waved back. Ganesh sung away from the dock, then three topsails unfurled simultaneously. " [Other refs. to this ship, built by people from India, and named after the Hindu god Ganesh. There other Indian characters, but 'Hinduism' mentioned by name only here.]

Hinduism

California: San Diego

1994

Ing, Dean. Spooker. New York: Tom Doherty Associates (1995); pg. 125.

"Her voice shifted as the waitress moved away, to a faint, delicately tongue-tied accent, unmistakably a Hindu intellectual. 'Pie. I love pie, I am obsessed with pie. I have meditated on pi ever since I learned that pie was a transcendental number.' When he looked up, startled at her bewildering turn of whimsy, she went on. 'I dialed three-point-one-four-one-six, but God hung up on me. I was in rapture; everyone is hung up on God, but God's hung up on me,' she finished, as Gary rocked with silent mirth.

'Where the hell did you get that,' he asked finally.

She looked down, with a negative headshake. 'You don't want to know.' "

"Trevor groaned as he flipped through Star TV's latest batch of sitcoms from India, stuff he had missed when he and Nelly were off on their 'vacation.'

The show was called Chakras, and it was pure Bollywood, full of dancing gods and goddesses and lewd religion. Trevor was reminded of reading somewhere that there more gods in the Hindu pantheon than there were people in Calcutta. "

"With her knobs and dials and scarabs, she radiate Shiva in his incarnation as Jagannath, the Infinite Machine of the Universe . . . The whole computable universe lay draped over her shapely form... " [Other Hindu refs., not in DB, e.g., pg. 165.]

Pg. 313: "...in the jungle. Through the here widely-spaced palms I could see the pyramids and temples, collonades and pagodas of an antique metropolis, one lost for thousands of years and only late rediscovered, to the awe and wonderment of even European scholars. " [Other refs.]

"'But what really settles the argument, as far as I'm concerned, is the general consensus about the single greatest work of human art. Over and over again, in almost every listing--it's Angkor Wat. Yet the religion that inspired that has been extinct for centuries; no one even knows precisely what it was, except that it involved hundreds of gods, not merely one!' "

"A great swarm of people--Chinese and Korean mariners, Hindu merchants, and South American guerrillas--descended on the area until the street in front of my stand was packed solid with the bodies of people, all of them in clashing costumes, milling endlessly. "

"'I've heard it called soma, but it certainly isn't much like the drug of the Rig-Veda. It transforms your perception of the world, and gives you an intense sense of well-being, but you remain functional. It's also very addictive...' "

[Year is estimated.] "Dividing communities by language [aboard the colony ship] made sense to me. But it was a typical human absurdity that, after language, the next most important set of divisions was religious. Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Espiritistas: All had their own villages. "

[Year is estimated.] "A man might be a brilliant scientist, but he was still a Hindu, and there was no hope of him living peacefully with a Sikh... " [Referring to the reason for separating the colony ship into villages by faith group.]

"His cargo was a large and intricate temple of Jagannath, including sacred images and rolling stock, intended to replace a religious complex that had been accidentally destroyed on the Hindu-settled planet. Old World artisans, using tools and ancient patterns now unavailable to their colonial kin, had crafted a perfect replica; but they had taken much too long doing it. Voorhees' contract specified that he had to get the temple and its statuary to Orissa within seventeen days, before the local celebration of Rath Yatra, when the god's effigy was scheduled to be transported in the solemn procession from the temple to a summer dwelling. If the ship arrived late and the faithful had to commemorate their holy days without the sacred edifice and images, the shipping fee would be halved. And it was a very large fee. "; Pg. 36: "Voorhees made his delivery in time and collected the entire fee from the grateful worshipers of Jagannath. "

"'Murder?' McCoy gasped. 'But surely it was an accident? My God, Spock, not even Omne would set that up as a trap. A suttee, Sandorian-style? Burn the whole house? The wife? The baby? The woman really died, Spock. No trick. Jim must couldn't stand it--not the baby. It was an accident. "

"...things had changed. People were more generous nowadays, if not that generous: 'It's one thing to help the little people, but you've lost your sense of proportion, Henry. Marriage?' If it was no longer against the rules, it was still a breach of propriety, the social equivalent of marrying a Negro, an Untouchable, or a Christian in times past. "

Pg. 45: "...Yei muttered. 'Oh, lord Krishna . . . I trust none of them have been...' "; Pg. 236: "'Lord Krishna,' Dr. Yei said, and wheeled to stare again at the live vid of the Habitat half-dismantled in orbit far above them. 'It can't be . . .' [This character appears to be invoking the name of Krishna in a purely profane, non-religious way, reflecting his ethnic heritage. Most of the heritage in the book, by other characters, is generic reference to 'God.']

"Sisko stared for a long moment. One by one, though no command was given, the teammates turned off their lights... as Sisko looked at each one in turn: ionized plasma trails from subatomic particles fleeing the horrific maelstrom of creation-destruction within the power generator, Shiva and Krishna waltzing to quantum pipes. "

Hinduism

galaxy

2400

Heinlein, Robert A. Citizen of the Galaxy. New York: Ballantine Books (1984; first published 1957); pg. 168.

"'...well, suppose Shiva III is the spot...' " [This is apparently a planet named after the Hindu god Shiva.]

[On the planet Liberty, in the Amerikan sector.] "This was where the President's psi-advisor, Ganesh Ramakrishnan, lived. Many times, he knew, Hawken had gone to his big rambling ashram and there consulted him for the lastest in classified astrogation research...

'He's a psi-talent of great power. A man of tremendous intellect. He has the biggest psi-library in Amerika,' Hawken told him, pointing at the Ramakrishnan place... 'Ramakrishnan's ashram--I've hear some pretty odd stories about that...'

'Hawken nodded. 'He's a strange man, all right. A weird Hindu...' " [This is a major character, mentioned many times in book, but mostly not recorded to DB.]

Hinduism

galaxy

2450

Kato, Ken. Yamato II: The Way of the Warrior, Part 2. New York: Warner Books (1992); pg. 1.

"The horrifying weapon had been used by both Amerika and Yamato ten years before, but had been totally banned by interSectoral treaty in 2442. No one could have any knowledge of secret technical advances made in Xanadu since that time, and since Ganesh Ramakrishnan had left America... "

Hinduism

galaxy

2450

Kato, Ken. Yamato II: The Way of the Warrior, Part 2. New York: Warner Books (1992); pg. 26.

"The technology originated, in part, on Varanasi in the Hindostan Sector... "

Hinduism

galaxy

2450

Kato, Ken. Yamato II: The Way of the Warrior, Part 2. New York: Warner Books (1992); pg. 214.

Pg. 214: "'The Hindu psientist who finally investigated it wore it as a pendant around his neck for four standard years, never once leaving the aura of its field. And though this man was an accomplished psientist, a savant and an expert in high-level mediation, talented and rigorous in his approach, still the psi power of the amygdala was stronger. It drained his mind and soon he became difficult and unwell.' ";

[A planet is named after a Hindu god, but it is only mentioned in passing in book.] Pg. 75: "'Huh-uh!' Brannhard was positive. 'Court ruling on that, about forty years ago, on Vishnu...' "; Pg. 83: "He shook his head. 'People of the Colony of Vishnu versus Emily Morrosh, 612 A.E.' "

Hinduism

galaxy

2732

Simmons, Dan. Hyperion. New York: Doubleday (1989); pg. 118.

"'Benares, also known as Varanasi or Gandhipur, Hindu Free State. Part of the Second Asian Co-prosperity Sphere after the Third sino-Japanese War. Destroyed in the Indo-Soviet Muslim Republic Limited Exchange.' "

"With tears in their eyes, the selection panels had thrown away the Veda, the Bible, the Tripitaka, the Qur'an, and all the immense body of literature--fiction and nonfiction--that was based upon them. Despite all the wealth of beauty and wisdom these works contained, they could not be allowed to reinfect virgin planets... "

Hinduism

galaxy

2800

Modesitt, Jr., L.E. The Parafaith War. New York: Tor (1996); pg. 191.

[Military maneuvers in a planetary system with planets and moons named after Hindu deities.] "...not Coalition ship would be in real space that far beyond Kali--the outer planet of the Parvati ssytem... "; Pg. 197: "The lietenant continued to track the incoming rev as the Willis steadily narrowed the distance, approaching both Krishna and Sithra, the gas giant's big fourth moon... "; Pg. 198: "fourth moon of Krishna. "; "...even as the rev slid toward Kali... The four torps ran toward Yama--the small ice-rock moon of the outer planet. "; Pg. 199: "...hit the Trojan points off Shiva... "

"Charek crossed the room to read the last inscription: I HAVE BECOME DEATH, THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS. "

Hinduism

galaxy

5000

Le Guin, Ursula K. The Telling. New York: Harcourt (2000); pg. 87.

"Ethnic slurs were exchanged: the ruthlessness of the Chinese, who treated animals as insentient, the wickedness of the Hindus, who fed sacred cows and let children starve. 'I will not live with mice!' Pao shouted. 'I will not live with a murderer!' Sutty shouted back. "

Hinduism

galaxy

5000

Le Guin, Ursula K. The Telling. New York: Harcourt (2000); pg. 110.

"What was it they held sacred? She kept looking for the core of the matter, the words at the heard of the Telling, the holy books to study and memorize. She found them, but not it. No bible. No koran. Dozens of upanishads, a million sutras. Every maz gave her something else to read. "

Hinduism

galaxy

5000

Le Guin, Ursula K. The Telling. New York: Harcourt (2000); pg. 227.

"Aunty explained my name to me once. I asked, 'Why am I Sutty?' And she said, 'Sutty was God's wife.' And I asked, 'Am I Ganesh's wife?' Because Ganesh was the God I knew best, and I liked him. But she said, 'No, Shiva's.'

'All I knew about Shiva then was that he has a lovely white bull that's his friend. And he had long, dirty hair and he's the greatest dancer in the universe. He dances the worlds into being and out of being. He's very strange and ugly and he's always fasting. Aunty told me that Sutty loved him so much that she married him against her father's will. I knew that was hard for a girl to do in those days, and I thought she was very brave. But then Aunty told me that Sutty went back to see her father. And her father talked insultingly to about Shiva and was extremely rude to him...' " [More, pg. 228-229.]

Hinduism

galaxy

5275

Card, Orson Scott. Xenocide. New York: Tor (1991); pg. 62.

"'Human beings are organisms... But human philotic twinings go way beyond those of any other life form.'

'Now you're talking about that stuff that came from Ganges a thousand years ago,' said Valentine. 'Nobody's been able to get consistent results from those experiments.' The researchers--Hindus all, and devout ones--claimed that they had shown that human philotic twinings, unlike those of other organisism, did not always reach directly into the planet's core to twine with all life and matter. Rather, they claimed, the philotic rays from human beings often twined with those of other human beings, most often with families... 'It's all very pleasingly mystical, but nobody except Gangean Hindus takes it seriously anymore.'

'I do,' said Miro.

'To each his own,' said Jakt.

'Not as a religion,' said Miro. 'As science.' "

Hinduism

galaxy

5275

Card, Orson Scott. Xenocide. New York: Tor (1991); pg. 64.

"The Miro-image nodded. 'If the philotic ray twines in response to the human will, why couldn't we suppose that all philotic twining is willed? Every particle, all of matter and energy, why couldn't every observable phenomenon in the universe be the willing behavior of individuals?'

'Now we're beyond Gangean Hinduism,' said Valentine. 'How seriously am I supposed to take this? What you're talking about is Animism...' "

Hinduism

galaxy

13500

Herbert, Frank. Dune. Philadelphia: Chilton Book Co. (1965); pg. 497.

"...the religious beliefs dominant in the Imperium up to the time of Maud'Dib [include] The so-called Ancient Teachings--including... the Hindu outcroppings found all through the universe in little pockets of insulated pyons... "

Pg. 124: "'...To answer your question, it has been rather a long time--much longer than I suspect you hoped. In your notation, this is the year 32,072...' "; Pg. 210: "'The marauder, the Shiva, the destroyer, the whatever we choose to call it. I don't know if it's intelligent or nonintelligent, but it's changing the Galaxy in a way that's deadly to humans. Even if the Shiva don't mean to kill, they are silencing stellar systems by the billion...' " [Other refs. to the alien species that has been named the 'Shiva', not in DB, e.g. pg. 220, 257, 267, 274, etc.]

Hinduism

Germany

2002

Knight, Damon. "The Other Foot " in One Side Laughing. New York: St. Martin's Press (1991; 1965); pg. 169.

"'But if, and I emphasize if, I take any credit to myself, it is precisely because I alone perceived this one small fact from the beginning. Who or what our Fritz was, before, is not of the slightest consequence. If we are to believe the Hindus, our Wenzl here might have been a beetle in some previous incarnation.' "

"'...A being that pushes the envelope of HIT would have many limbs, more like a Hindu deity than a human. I hear things, even here in Hawaii. And I think C is the perfect example of just such a being.' "

Hinduism

India

-1500 B.C.E.

Sagan, Carl. Contact. New York: Simon & Schuster (1985); pg. 207.

"While they were discussing the merits of the several opinions on whether to build the Machine, in her mind's eye she returned to Devi's image from the Aryan invasion of India 3,500 years ago: a war between two peoples, each of whom claimed victory, each of whom patriotically exaggerated the historical accounts. Ultimately, the story is transformed intoa war of the gods. 'Our' side, of course, is god. The other side, of course, is evil. She imagined the goateed, spade-footed cloven-Devil of the West evolving by slow evolutionary steps over thousands of years form some Hindu antecedent who, for all Ellie knew, had the head of an elephant and was painted blue. "

Hinduism

India

-445 B.C.E.

Vidal, Gore. Creation. New York: Random House (1981); pg. 21.

"'We believe that all souls were created at the beginning by the Wise Lord. In due course, these souls are born once, and only once. On the other hand, in the east, they believe that a soul is born and dies and is born again, thousands and thousands of times, in different forms.'

'Pythagoras held the same view,' said Socrates. 'When Archelaus and I were in Samos, we met one of Pythagoras' oldest disciples. He said that Pythagoras got this doctrine from the Egyptians.'

'No.' I was firm. I can't think why. I don't really know anything about Pythagoras. 'He got it from those who live beyond the Indus River...' " [Many other refs., not in DB.]

Hinduism

India

-445 B.C.E.

Vidal, Gore. Creation. New York: Random House (1981); pg. 140.

"Also, most shrewdly, they have divided themselves into four classes. First, the priests, whom they call Brahmans--creatures very like our own Magians; second, the warriors; third, the merchants; fourth, the farmers and artisans. Then there are the original peoples of this land They are dark, sullen, overwhelmed--like the caraka. Millions of them live in the north, reluctantly serving their foreign masters.

In theory, the four Indo-Aryan classes may not intermarry with one another, while intermarriage with the original folk is absolutely forbidden. Nevertheless, in the millennium that has passed since the Aryans arrived in India, they have become considerably darker of skin and eyes than their Persian consigns. Yet Indo-Aryans will tell you, quite seriously, that this darkness is due to the fierce sun of the dry season. I always agree. " [Many other refs., not in DB.]

Hinduism

India

-445 B.C.E.

Vidal, Gore. Creation. New York: Random House (1981); pg. 141.

"'My father was a Jain. But I'm not. The cult is very old . . . prey-Aryan, in fact. The Jains have never accepted the Aryan gods. They do not believe in Varuna, Mithra, Brahma . . .' "

Hinduism

India

-445 B.C.E.

Vidal, Gore. Creation. New York: Random House (1981); pg. 167.

"Incidentally, one Vedic narrative about a young king named Rama may well be the longest hymn ever written. I am told that it takes at least ten years for an intelligent Brahman to learn every line. After having listened to a day or two of this hymn, I think that one can say with some justice that the narrative is even more boring than Homer's story. To me, the only interesting thing about either of these old Aryan stories is the fact that the gods are simply superheroes. There is no sense of true deity anywhere in either story. The Aryan gods are exactly like ordinary men and women except that they live forever; they also have exaggerated appetites which they overindulge, usually at the expense of human beings... "

Hinduism

India

-445 B.C.E.

Vidal, Gore. Creation. New York: Random House (1981); pg. 167.

"The Indians of my day--and perhaps now, too--were wiser than the Greeks. For them the gods are simply there or not there, depending on your perception of them. The notion of impiety is quite alien to the Indian mind. Not only do Aryan kings enjoy talking to atheists who openly mock the high gods of the Aryan tribes but no Aryan ruler would ever dream of outlawing the pre-Aryan local gods of the country folk. "

Hinduism

India

-150 B.C.E.

Anderson, Poul. The Shield of Time. New York: Tor (1990); pg. 32.

"In years to come, Demetrius would cross the Hindu Kush and grab off a goodly chunk of the decaying Mauryan Empire for himself. " [Uncertain of year.]

Ravana smiled, revealing grotesque ragged tusks. He angled his ugly head to show the horns to better effect. Because you are an Aspara, the most beautiful creature of Indra's heaven, and I am smitten by your lovely features. You will not easily be rid of me.

But I am not smitten by YOU, you horror from no realm I would care to know. I am a lesser goddess who prefers to associate with personable folk. What can I do to make you go away for a century or two so I can have some peace?

Ravana considered. You might deal with me. Perhaps we should wager on a game with suitable prices. " [More. Other refs. throughout novel, not in DB. Indian mythology is the central thematic element of the novel.]

"The horseman laughed and slapped his saddle. 'Well spoken!' he said. 'Know that I am the zamindar and that your words please me. Goddess Lakshmi is indeed welcome and I thank you for delivering her to me. I would speak with you further, young traveler, but I must be on my way. The Great Rajah has called his servant to his palace to celebrate the month of our Lord Krishna. The Goddess of Fortune will be welcome company on the journey, at whose end she will find rest in most comfortable and familiar surroundings. But tell me, Hari, what gift should I present in homage to our Lord Krishna?' "

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